Life is so much easier when you finally give up any pretense of being cool, and I wish I would’ve done it decades ago. It would’ve let me openly enjoy the song “The Way I Am” by Ingrid Michaelson, instead of relegating it to my secret shame playlists of songs that I know I shouldn’t like because they’re twee or maudlin or too poppy.1If you’re curious, that also includes “Rather Be,” “Call Me Maybe,” and “Just the Way You Are.” Basically, if it would be right for a Pitch Perfect movie, I probably secretly like it. But it’s just plain sweet, and I like it every time I hear it.
The first time I heard it was in an Old Navy commercial that was ubiquitous at the time. It was a genius move on the part of the marketing department, because it has the line “If you are chilly, here, take my sweater,” and it was used in an ad to sell sweaters.
I think that technically makes it a jingle, so it’s perfect for starting off my challenge for December: to come up with a month’s worth of Two-Fers with the most tangentially-related-to-Christmas songs I can think of. I did a test run a while back for Hanukkah, but this one I can do without worrying that I’m appropriating or disrespecting anything.
And it’s perfectly paired with my favorite song about bells, and one of my favorite songs of all time, “I Hear the Bells” by Mike Doughty. This one isn’t really about Christmas so much as it’s about making out with girls from sales and marketing. But when you get down to it, isn’t that the true reason for the season?
Leave a Reply